Charter trips entertaining as well as fruitful

Thursday

Dec 13, 2012 at 12:41 AM

By John PattonCorrespondent

The bass have been large, but the numbers have been small of late on the Silver River.
That, according to Captain Nick Bozman of Slick Charters.
“We were doing really well, but it's been down a tad overall recently,” said Bozman (www.slickcharters.net). “We have brought in some big ones, though.
“The last trip we had, the biggest was about seven-and-a-half pounds, and the next was a little bit more than five. We caught about 12 overall in four hours.
“For the most part, we usually catch a couple of seven- or eight-pounders, a few in the five- or six-pound range and then some two- or three-pounders.”
Bozman added there was a funny occurrence on a trip last week.
“Otters were harassing us the other day,” Bozman, better known as “Captain Nick,” said. “River otters slow things down and run off a lot of the bass.
“The otters sit on the edge of the river bank and go in and get the bass and bring them back up. They eat them from the belly out. It really affects fishing because they either get to the fish or scare them off.
“You could say otters are my arch enemy.”
Bozman said he and some passengers on the Oklawaha River also recently saw a large bald eagle eating some of the shiner bait left behind, but he added that, surprisingly, there have been no manatee sightings.
“A lot of people ask about those, but none so far,” Bozman said.
Bozman added he expects largemouths to bed during the next few weeks, which should bring the numbers up once the spawning is completed. He also said the rivers are relatively low right now, so be careful not to get stuck in water that is too shallow for your boat.
BIG BITE IN THE GULF: Captain Kyle Messier (www.floridafishingadventures.com) of the Crystal River area has a recommendation for anglers during the rather warm December of 2012.
“With weeks of mild 70-degree weather, accompanied by light winds, as you can imagine the fishing opportunities are endless among the Nature Coast of Florida at this moment,” Messier wrote in an email.
“Sight fishing for tailing redfish, casting lures for gator trout, and throwing flies at tasty sheepshead feasting on oysters have all been sure bets during the last few weeks.
“The only downfall to this great weather and fishing is we'll never know just how long this pattern will last.”
He added that targeting oyster bars, deep dropoffs and rock flats likely will bring redfish, as they hunt prey in those areas before the weather gets really cold.
All three types of locations can be found in Crystal River and the Homosassa area.
Live shrimp, Berkely Gulp! shrimp, DOA Jerkbaits and a variety of flies have been among the most “extremely productive” bait options, according to Messier.
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Contact John Patton at John.patton43@gmail.com.